Wednesday, August 13, 2008

Wall-E

wall_e

Call me biased, but there hasn't been a Pixar movie which I didn't enjoy.

Actually, the concept of Pixar's movies have all been very mundane. Can you guess what Pixar cartoons the following were?

toys
monsters
fish
ants
race car
superhero family
rat
robot

Does any of the above protagonist sound very exciting to you? Everytime a new Pixar movie is shown on trailers, it doesn't compel me to really want to watch it. I mean how in hell am I going to give a shit about ants? Or rats? Or fish? Or freaking race car? And aren't there enough movies about robots and superhoes? But when I finally do watch it (and I always do) - the story telling grabs me by the shoulders and sucks me in.

Taking everyday objects and circumstances and turning it into a compelling story which appeals to the average person - you and me. That's Pixar. The extra bit where it cheesily tugs at your heart strings is most probably Disney's fault, so I'm letting that slide.

Humanising its characters. Telling a great story.
That's what Pixar does, and that is what they do incredibly well.

Their story telling is so seamless, so effortless, so simple, so flawless - it's so easy to forget about how much blood and sweat that went into the production of its movies. It's easy to forget how difficult it is to produce that kind of quality animation, and how long it took them to make it - just because their incredible work does not get into the way of their story-telling.

But how was Wall-E?

It's exactly like how you would expect a Pixar movie to be like.

Great story with a message. Heart-warming. Satisfying.

Wall-E was incredibly cute with those sad binocular eyes. Even his pet cockroach was darn cute. Who the hell can think up of having a cockroach as a pet AND making it look cute? Only Pixar.

ALL of the dialogues between the robots were in their own robotic language, and yet you have an inkling of what they are actually saying. Who the hell can think up of doing that? Only Pixar.

Wall-E has a certain familiarity in it. Maybe because Wall-E reminded me of Johnny Number 5. Maybe because Eve looks suspectingly like a MAC gadget. Maybe because the space scenes had elements of all the sci-fi movies I've ever seen. Maybe because the message has been preached so often. But, in spite of the dejavu feeling I didn't feel like Wall-E is just some overplayed try-too-hard tacky cartoon knock-off sci-fi movie. It still feels original but with a tinge of "hey.. I know you from some place!". Who the hell can combine just the right mix of familiarity and originality? Only Pixar.

Any movie which can keep a rowdy 3 year old brat sitting on his seat fairly quietly for 2 hours surely has to have some magic in it. Only Pixar.

I loved it.
I loved every single pixel, every minute of it. Even with the extra serving of Disney cheese.

Pixar has failed to dissapoint me yet again.

I'm gonna go buy me a DVD and watch this another million times more.

Thanks for the invite, Minishorts. :)

More:
On IMDB
Official Website

9 comments:

  1. So, um, you like Pixar?

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  2. I love the show too! Its a meaningful yet warm show:)

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  3. small typo,
    Johnny Mnemonic & Number Johnny 5 (Short Circuit) are 2 difference characters ...

    FA: Oops. thanks. :)

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  4. I got the feeling that Cars was a bit of 'America Fuck Yeah' kind of deal. You know, the sense of 'I'm proud to be American and fuck you sons of bitches who aren't yeehaa!!' That one was by John Lasseter, who's sort of the founder of the animation part of Pixar. He's already starting to lose his touch; the other Directors like Brad Bird and Andrew Stanton (who directed Wall-E) are still kind of fresh.

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  5. Yeah, Eve actually WAS designed by Apple. That's why she looks so "familiar".

    And yes, Cars WAS supposed to be a "America! Fuck Yeah!" kind of deal. Besides the fact that it was a remake of "Doc Hollywood" and it was a takeoff on NASCAR, which is as an American sport as you're going to find, yeah, I think it was supposed to be lidat.

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  6. wow, look at all these Pixar experts. I feel so humbled by their superior analysis of the movies, and so ashamed that I watched those movies so many times just because they were brilliantly entertaining.

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  7. There was so much more to the movie than the trailer, don't you think?

    FA: yup. more than meets the eye. the trailers don't do justice to the movie.

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